Chinese Stock Market Tops $10 Trillion

A third-party education institution released a “2015 Chinese College Graduate Job Report.” The report shows the 2014 income of various kinds of jobs of those who graduated between 3 months and 3 years ago. The job with the highest average monthly income is game designer (RMB 5273/month = $850/mo), followed by game developer (RMB 5174/month) and computer software engineer (RMB 5096/month).

Backwards Compatibility for Xbox One with Xbox 360 games is a huge hit for gaming fans at this week’s E3 Expo in Los Angeles. This may not translate to the use of these titles with the Xbox One in China however, since Xbox would need to get the backwards-compatible titles approved by the Chinese government and that is not an easy task. However, now that the region locking mechanism is unlocked and since some of the titles are available via download, one wonders what might happen to open up additional titles to legitimate Xbox One China gamers. We will continue to watch this unfold, as well as what PS4 will present as a counter move.

Chinese investors are going wild by eschewing risk and investing heavily in companies traded on their domestic stock exchanges. The stock market value now exceeds $10 trillion, which is $6.7 trillion higher than it was 12 months ago. The hot market is a major topic of conversation in China these days. And, it is one of the reasons for Chinese PC online game operators to delist from foreign exchanges such as NASDAQ to relist A-shares in China, as we discussed in our April 2015 Chinese PC Online Games Market Report.

The capital’s sole cable TV network operator says it will establish a firm with investors including a subsidiary of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. to expand upon a movie streaming service similar to Netflix in the United States that it has been trying out. Beijing Gehua CATV Network announced the plan on June 15 to form a company with investors including an investment subsidiary of New York-listed Alibaba Group; China Film Co. Ltd.; and National Radio and TV Network Co., which was founded last year with 4 billion yuan from the Ministry of Finance. The new firm’s name translates as China TV Theaters Operating Co. Ltd. It will have a registered capital of 500 million yuan, with Gehua holding a majority stake of 62 percent and Alibaba’s subsidiary owning another 6 percent. The other two firms will each hold another 10 percent, and another two investors will hold the rest. The first general manager will be someone recommended by Alibaba, Gehua said.

Jurassic World took in $100.1 million in its first five days in the world’s second-biggest film market, according to data from Universal. Hollywood is having a powerful run in China this year, with Furious 7, Avengers: Age of Ultron and now Jurassic World earning enormous sums in their opening weeks. However, the annual “blackout” period is due to begin June 19, when Hollywood movies have to give way to Chinese films, and that usually runs until the end of July.